Spain, 2023, 113 min.
-Language: Lao, Swahili, Subtitles: English
-Screening Format: DCP flat 24fps / 5.1
-Shooting Format: 16mm
-Age: +12
Note: References to death, brief bloody images.
Synopsis: Every morning, a Buddhist teenager visits an elderly woman’s home to read her The Bardo Thödol, a guide for the journey between death and the next rebirth. On her last day, the young man whispers the book’s final passages in her ear, closes his eyes, and meditates alongside her, as she embarks on a transformative journey into what lies beyond.
Spanish director Lois Patiño, who cut his teeth in experimental cinema, uses techniques from that world to astonishing effect with Samsara, bringing audiences a transcendental experience made for the big screen. Having played in the Encounters section of 2023’s Berlinale, Samsara beckons viewers to traverse time and space, across the universe and beyond in a film which Sight and Sound has described as ‘genuinely transformational.’
*This screening is part of the Latin Connections Film Festival.
Organised by Cinemaattic, supported by Screen Scotland.
